The Future You

Imagine walking into a room and meeting the 'you' of ten
years from now. What will you be wearing? Where will you be
living? What will your lifestyle be like? What car will you
be driving? Will you be running a business? If so, how
successful will you be? What will your net worth be?

You really only have three choices here about how the ‘you
of the future’ will look, and this is where the power of
this exercise lies:

1. Somewhere in between how you are now, and a depressed,
broke and scruffy tramp.

2. An exact clone of how you are now - absolutely nothing
has changed in a decade.

3. A happier, wealthier, healthier version of the ‘you of
today.’

Only a suicidal depressive would visualize number one.
Number two is effectively saying that nothing will change;
you will not grow over the next ten years, you will not get
richer, happier, wiser, healthier - anything. The 'you of
tomorrow' will be indistinguishable from the 'you of today.'

So that just leaves number three, and if you selected this
it remains for you to back this glittering vision of the
'future you' with all the force of your imagination.

Having imagined how you will be in the next ten years, here
is a really neat trick to help you achieve it.

Ask yourself the following questions:

“What do I need to achieve in the next 12 months in
order to make my future dream a reality?”

“What do I need to do in the next month to start myself
on this journey?”

“What can I do by next week to prepare myself for the
journey?”

“What can I do right now, today, in order to start this
process off?”

Do you see how this works?

You need to dream, but this is not enough. Dreams come a
size too large so that you can grow into them and this means
that dreams are too large to realize all at once.

Our minds are finite, and so all large projects must be
broken down into bite-sized chunks otherwise we become
discouraged by the scale of the endeavor. This is one of the
secret keys of successful people. They are undaunted by
large projects, because they have the knack of breaking them
down into simple steps. Each step is easily manageable, and
can be completed in anything from a few hours to a few
weeks.

In contrast, it is useful to analyze the situation of people
who are stuck, both monetarily and in spirit, if only to
allow you to avoid these errors. This is based on my
experience of two decades of dealing with both winners and
temporary losers in the game of life.

1. They are frightened. Their lives are dominated by fear.
They see the world as a scary, threatening place and crave
security, dullness, mediocrity. They long for every day to
be the same as the last and become scared and upset if even
a small change breaks the monotony of their days.

2. They completely lack visualization ability. If asked to
visualize their future self, they would stare at you
blankly. They are not pretending. They do not even
understand what you mean by this exercise. If you force them
to try, they’ll come back with nothing more than a shrug.

3. Assuming that you could drag some sort of dream out of
them (for example wanting to be worth a million dollars some
day) then they would be wholly incapable of working
backwards from that point to the present, and suggesting
actions they might have to take in order to make this come
about. Again, they are not faking. There is now; there is
the future; and in between, a yawning, fathomless chasm - a
blank.

4. Even if you were to write the steps out, 1-100, with a
check box next to each one, they absolutely lack the
discipline even to start on the task, let alone complete the
steps. At the first slight downfall, or negative comment
from a friend, they will give up. In any situation which
requires a choice between working for a better future, and
instant gratification now, they will unfailingly choose
instant gratification.

But this is not you, hopefully. If you recognize yourself
here, then don't worry because it is possible to change and
get out of this 'stuck' pattern you are in.

You need to develop the habits of a winner. You want to
enjoy today, but have an even better tomorrow waiting for
you.

To do this you must model yourself on winners - people who
have achieved great things in their lives. I am talking here
about 'winners' and 'losers' but I do not mean the term
'loser' in the usual derogatory sense.

By a 'loser' I mean someone who, by their own definition of
winning and losing, is falling well short of where they want
to be. By a 'winner' I mean someone who, by their own
definition of winning and losing, is pulling ahead of the
game and achieving that which they set out to achieve.

This is how a winner operates:

1. They are brave. Like all human beings they feel fear,
but have mastered it and are able to rise above it. Whilst
they acknowledge that there are frightening people and
places in the world, in general they view the world as a
benevolent place, full of great opportunities and wonderful
people. This is a vital principle. Winners view the world as
mainly benevolent with some bad bits. Losers see the world
as mainly malevolent with some good bits.

2. They are good visualizers. They have the ability to
imagine the future, often in glorious Technicolor detail.
They have high self-esteem, and know that they are worth
more than they have at present. Life to them is an exciting
adventure to be lived to the full. In contrast, losers view
life as a terrible chore to be somehow 'got through' with as
little pain as possible.

3. They are intelligent, rational and logical. If they have
a dream of the future, they know the secret technique for
making this happen. Today's dreams are tomorrow's realities.
They know that large projects cannot be tackled by finite
human minds unless they are broken down into manageable,
bite-sized pieces. They are able to work backwards from a
future dream to the present day, and to list the logical
steps required to make that dream come true.

4. Having written down the steps required to achieve their
goals, they know what is required next. Action. Up until
this point, all of their plans amount to little more than
ethereal hot air. It is action which grounds the circuit and
allows the current to flow. They know that the journey will
be long and hard. Any worthwhile dream will involve hard
work, concentrated effort and some suffering to attain. They
need one more quality. Discipline. This keeps them going
during setbacks, when the list seems too long, and when
others heap mirth and derision upon their efforts.

Clients pay $4500 a day to hear Stuart Goldsmith's hard-hitting marketing advice. Legendary copywriter Gary Halbert recently described him as "The second best copywriter on the planet!" His sales letters and adverts have made him many millions of dollars. In his startling free action guide "Double Your Way To A Million", Stuart shows how you can change nothing into $1,310,720 without any capital, simply using your wit, imagination and your natural abilities.